Lexington Historic District

Lexington's historic district spans about 600 acres of the Valley of Virginia, taking in the northern and central parts of the city. The northern half is given over to the campuses of Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute. VMI's castellated barracks, designed by A. J. Davis, surround the parade ground, while Washington Hall, begun by John Jordon in 1823, anchors the Washington and Lee range beside Lee Chapel, completed in 1868. Main Street holds the commercial core, with brick rows from the early nineteenth to early twentieth century, the circa 1790 Alexander-Withrow House, and the 1843 Greek Revival Presbyterian Church. Residential streets offer temple-form houses, Picturesque cottages, and Queen Anne and Colonial Revival homes. The district was recognized for Lexington's long role as an educational center, its links to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and a townscape little changed since the later nineteenth century.